Augusta man charged with firing gun during confrontation

AUGUSTA — An Augusta man has been charged after reportedly firing a gun on Glenridge Drive, discharging a bullet that narrowly missed a man’s head and wound up lodged in an apartment bedroom.

Patrick Lappin, 24, is charged with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.

No injuries were reported.

Lappin, who made an initial appearance Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court, is being held at the Kennebec County jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail, or $2,500 cash with a Maine pretrial contract.

Police were called to the area of 101 Glenridge Drive around 3 a.m. Sunday for a report of a gunshot.

Augusta Police Officer Michael Unterkoefler wrote in an affidavit filed in superior court that Lappin acknowledged having a physical confrontation with another man later identified as 28-year-old Daniel Mason of Augusta.

Lappin did not mention a firearm, but a woman who reportedly witnessed the events said she saw two men fighting in a parking lot from a window in a nearby second-floor apartment. The woman “said she heard a gunshot and saw what appeared to be a muzzle flash,” Unterkoefler wrote. The woman said “the gun shot went off right near” the head of one of the men involved.

The woman said it appeared the shot was fired in the direction of apartment 15. Police later found a bullet in a second-floor bedroom of apartment 15.

Unterkoefler said he checked the area where the scuffle occurred and found a .45 caliber shell casing on the ground. A handgun was later retrieved from a nearby snowbank, he wrote.

Lappin told police he grabbed a Colt .45 handgun, put a round in the chamber, then went outside to check on a man and woman arguing in the parking lot. Lappin claimed Mason and a woman were sitting in a car and that Mason was pushing the woman. Lappin said he believed Mason also was trying to assault Lappin’s mother, Unterkoefler wrote.

“Patrick admitted to pointing his loaded Colt .45 in the direction of Daniel as he sat in the driver’s seat,” Unterkoefler wrote. “Patrick stated he pointed the firearm at Daniel to intimidate him, but never had any intention of actually shooting him.”

Mason then reportedly got out of the vehicle, and Lappin tried to hit him with his forearm, Unterkoefler wrote. The handgun was in Lappin’s right hand as he swung at Mason, who reportedly blocked the punch with his forearm.

“When Daniel blocked Patrick’s right arm, Patrick said his finger accidentally hit the safety and another finger hit the trigger, discharging a round,” Unterkoefler said. “Patrick informed me that he did not intend to fire the weapon and that it was an accident.”

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